Album Reviews

While Mercury gets all the 35MM audiophile glory, Everest also produced a series of sonically spectacular LPs, many recorded on 35MM magnetic film by the late engineer-turned audio columnist Bert Whyte. The advantages of sprocketed 35MM magnetic film are zero “print-through,” minimal “wow and flutter,” higher signal to noise ratio and wider dynamic range than conventional ¼” or ½” recording tape.

This Glasgow-based pop band, led by lead singer and songwriter Tracyanne Campbell produces breezy, tuneful string-driven pop confections bathed in near-cavernous reverb. So great is the reverb that what are real strings sound like synth ones. Oh, well.

Better late than never to discover this family of fanciful, faith-based music makers living in Clarksburg, New Jersey, a small hamlet located between Trenton and Point Pleasant on the New Jersey shore.

I think there’s a recent interview with these guys online but I don’t want to read it. The less I know the better.

True to the label’s intentions and name, Zane Musa is a muscular-toned, “straight ahead” alto sax bopper, accompanied on this superb sounding disc by like-minded Southern California jazz musicians on a set of well worn but always comfortable jazz standards.

Spirit’s 1971 release The 12 Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus (Epic E30267) may be the best Spirit album, and one of the finest albums of the psychedelic and post-psychedelic era, but this, the band’s debut, recorded in 1967, falls not far behind and holds up remarkably well for many reasons.

At first, the lingering melodies and stick-to-the-synapses catch phrases don’t seem to reach out and grab you like they do on older Steely Dan albums, but the grooves are deeper and more elastic here than ever and Fagen’s arranging abilities remain crisp, inventive and instantly recognizable even if you don’t take time out to analyze what’s going on to make them seem so familiar.